[Afederal]

TLDR: Took car in for oil change. Tech took full responsibility for breaking oil cooler line during, saying he messed up but didn’t explain but was super apologetic like he knew he did something wrong. Said they’ll fix for free. Next day, get call AFTER repair was done demanding $700+ in repairs and parts for the now oil cooler being broken, without my authorization or courtesy to tell me what they found/were doing.

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Looking for a little personal input on if anyone has experienced troublesome behavior like I experienced at my normal dealership recently. I apologize for the long story for anyone who is willing to read and listen.

I have a Challenger Hellcat that I only take into a specific dealership for oil changes, and have done it myself once with hand tools when it was a nice summer day and I felt like being a little hands on. This specific instance, I take the Cat into the usual dealership for an oil change and tire mounting/balancing. After about 3-4 hours of waiting, the service advisor comes and notifies me that everything is done, but when they went to start it, the car began spewing oil out of the oil cooler area. I ask to take a look, they bring me back, and the technician that was working on it starts profusely apologizing for whatever had happened and admitted full fault for the damage. I asked where the damage was, as I wasn’t able to see specifically since it was still up on the lift. They adamantly explained to me that a senior tech had looked at it already and it was just leaking from the oil cooler line and not the actual connectors or the oil cooler itself. The hose is a $30 part, no big deal, they’ll fix it and cover the part and repair cost. I get a loaner, I leave, thinking everything is ok.

Fast forward to the next day,mid afternoon, I get a call from them saying the cat is ready for pickup... then comes some bad news, as he puts it. He claims that the oil cooler, the same one that I’ve seen and inspected before when doing my oil change, and seen and inspected by them on multiple different occasions, magically had “impact damage” and had cracked or started leaking upon the tech torquing the drain bolt. Never called to inform me of the problem they knew about for the 6+ hours of the day they knew about it, the cost, or asking for my authorization to perform a now $700 repair that stemmed from a free oil change and tire mounting. I go in finally myself to take a look, and it does indeed look like someone took an impact wrench to it and (albeit slightly) bent the oil cooler itself. Service manager starts going on a triad about how his dudes could never have done this and how it’s ridiculous that I’m slightly upset about the situation.

I politely inform the service manager that the tech had already taken blame for the issue the previous day and how without written consent/authorization, a quote, or merely a courtesy call to me that it now required a $700 repair (which goes against my states laws), that I will not be paying that. He again gets upset with me with the aforementioned argument, says he’ll cover the charges and repair this time, but then threatens that I will never be allowed to bring the car into their shop again.

Long story slightly short, I was just amazed at how rudely I was treated by someone who is the lead of a dealership service center. He and whoever else went out of their way to purposely be mischievous and break the law by not informing me of the repair needs, doing it without my authorization or even knowledge, and then expecting me to pay over $700 for it.

Am I the a-hole here? Or does something not seem right to anyone else?

 

[ledft]

That’s why so many dealers get such a bad reputation. I tried going to the dealer for an oil change and they somehow pulled the front bumper enough to separate it from the fender by a quarter inch. They knew they did it and never told me. I didn’t notice till I got home and walked by the front of the car. Needless to say dealers don’t do my oil changes. This might sound weird but Walmart has been my best experience for oil changes. And I get plenty of them. Over 100k miles on my current cat and I put over 100k miles on SRT8 before that. A couple bad oil change experiences but never at Walmart 😁

 

[ledft]

Oh yeah. The dealer repaired the front of my car at no charge but I never went back there.

 

[Afederal]

That’s why so many dealers get such a bad reputation. I tried going to the dealer for an oil change and they somehow pulled the front bumper enough to separate it from the fender by a quarter inch. They knew they did it and never told me. I didn’t notice till I got home and walked by the front of the car. Needless to say dealers don’t do my oil changes. This might sound weird but Walmart has been my best experience for oil changes. And I get plenty of them. Over 100k miles on my current cat and I put over 100k miles on SRT8 before that. A couple bad oil change experiences but never at Walmart 😁

Not sure where dealerships and techs get the notion that they can get away with something like this, especially with owners of nice cars like ours. Most of us are too obsessed and privy to what our cars look like and every fault. They’re going to end up paying for it and fixing it in a lot of cases anyway, may as well save face and be honest and up front about it.

Back when I had a Chevy, they scuffed the dumped super bad and knew it but released it to me anyway. Long story short, I raised hell and got a whole new bumper, paint, and clearcoat.

 

[DGatzby]

Escalate this entire thing up the line with Dodge until you are taken care of and someone or two at that dealer is terminated. Can’t make that up OP, it is a horrible story.

 

[Slowpoke387]

While they may indeed have found evidence that the cooler was damaged prior, and the tech may have thought it was his fault initially, they 100% shouldve called you in and informed you so that you would know what you were facing. It may or may not have been damaged prior but tbh that part is less relevant than how they handled it.

 

[Dennis H]

Name of Dealer?

 

[Dennis H]

Taking 19 fasteners out and uncapping delicate plumbing just ain’t worth it. Forget draining the cooler.

 

[Afederal]

While they may indeed have found evidence that the cooler was damaged prior, and the tech may have thought it was his fault initially, they 100% shouldve called you in and informed you so that you would know what you were facing. It may or may not have been damaged prior but tbh that part is less relevant than how they handled it.

That was my thought as well. Despite the doubt I have that it was previously damaged, if they had simply called me and told me hey this is what we found, how much it’ll cost, etc etc I would have been more cool about the situation. Instead they do the repair without any knowledge to myself, with me under the impression it was just a $30 cooler line that they took fault for, and then demand $700 immediately over the phone. They should know better, which makes me question their authenticity of the claims that the cooler was damaged prior to the oil change

 

[Slowpoke387]

Ya springing a $700 repair on customers without prior warning never goes over well lol.

 

[Mattm400]

If it's money out of THEIR pockets, they change tune very quickly.
That story really sucks.

 

[butterscotch71]

I politely inform the service manager that the tech had already taken blame for the issue the previous day and how without written consent/authorization, a quote, or merely a courtesy call to me that it now required a $700 repair (which goes against my states laws), that I will not be paying that. He again gets upset with me with the aforementioned argument, says he’ll cover the charges and repair this time, but then threatens that I will never be allowed to bring the car into their shop again.

I would have laughed at that point. Did they seriously think you'd ever go back there for service?

 

[Afederal]

I would have laughed at that point. Did they seriously think you'd ever go back there for service?

It was even worse at the end when I went to pay. I did pay for the tire mounting and balancing, I figured that was at least fair. But as I was leaving, the head service manager said one of those condescending type of comments that go “Good luck with your future endeavors and finding another shop to service your car, because you sure aren’t allowed back here ever again”. I just laughed and thought to myself how there are plenty of other places I can go that won’t try and screw me out of $700.

 

[GBLWRMR]

@DodgeCares /|\ Not the reputation you are looking for.

 

[mchart]

This is why I never brought my Hellcat to the dealer, or anyone, for an oil change. Not worth the risk. To be fair, as great as this car is, Dodge really cheaped out on how they designed the oil cooler drain setup, that or they should have never recommended that people drain it. It wouldn't be the end of the world to not drain the thing with each oil change. Not draining out a 1/3qt isn't the end of the world.

 

[Afederal]

This is why I never brought my Hellcat to the dealer, or anyone, for an oil change. Not worth the risk. To be fair, as great as this car is, Dodge really cheaped out on how they designed the oil cooler drain setup, that or they should have never recommended that people drain it. It wouldn't be the end of the world to not drain the thing with each oil change. Not draining out a 1/3qt isn't the end of the world.

I’m at the point where I’ll be doing all my changes myself now. I wanted to, but it was overdue for a change, and I needed all seasons put on + alignment anyway, so I figured I’d use the last of 3 free oil changes while it was there - but never again.

 

[Vet Rider]

There is literally like a quarter quart of oil in that oil cooler that will get cycled through anyway the instant you hit the start button next time. There is literally no reason to drain it. Are you going to take off the oil pan as well to get the residual oil from in there too?? Hell no. Dont do this, and dont let anyone else do it. There is no need. This is the same with trans service. Sure you can dismantle the whole thing and take out the tq ocnverter and dump out the old fluid, but there is no need. It will get diluted by the new oil and wont be a problem. Like feeling bad for peeing in the ocean. Not a big deal.

 

[butterscotch71]

It was even worse at the end when I went to pay. I did pay for the tire mounting and balancing, I figured that was at least fair. But as I was leaving, the head service manager said one of those condescending type of comments that go “Good luck with your future endeavors and finding another shop to service your car, because you sure aren’t allowed back here ever again”. I just laughed and thought to myself how there are plenty of other places I can go that won’t try and screw me out of $700.

Please tell the name of that dealership so others can avoid the same grief.

 

[baabootoo]

This is why I never brought my Hellcat to the dealer, or anyone, for an oil change. Not worth the risk. To be fair, as great as this car is, Dodge really cheaped out on how they designed the oil cooler drain setup, that or they should have never recommended that people drain it. It wouldn't be the end of the world to not drain the thing with each oil change. Not draining out a 1/3qt isn't the end of the world.

BINGO!

 

[Gotgap]

There is literally like a quarter quart of oil in that oil cooler that will get cycled through anyway the instant you hit the start button next time. There is literally no reason to drain it. Are you going to take off the oil pan as well to get the residual oil from in there too?? Hell no. Dont do this, and dont let anyone else do it. There is no need. This is the same with trans service. Sure you can dismantle the whole thing and take out the tq ocnverter and dump out the old fluid, but there is no need. It will get diluted by the new oil and wont be a problem. Like feeling bad for peeing in the ocean. Not a big deal.

Very true, as a few have already done this mod, my suggestion for the OCD guys that do their own changes is to put a Fumoto drain valve on it, to do this you must pull the cooler line out that’s in the way for clearance to screw in the valve, once you pull that line out you’ll see how much oil comes out of the system it’s quite substantial at a good 600ml, then you can make a door or port in the plastic cover to access the valves lever for future changes and no more cumbersome front pan removal and the possibility of stripped and beat up fasteners..a one time fairly big job and you’re good for all future cooler drainings…food for thought